Shore Leave (episode)
Series: TOS Season: 1 Original Airdate: 1966-12-29 Production Number: 17 Year: 2267 Stardate: 3025.3 Story by: Theodore Sturgeon Directed by: Robert Sparr The Enterprise crew take shore leave on a planet where their imaginations become reality. Summary The [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|USS Enterprise]] has been through a grueling three months, when they discover a lush planet in the Omicron Delta region that promises the kind of shore leave they desperately need. McCoy and Sulu are part of a landing party there to investigate it -- when McCoy sees ... a giant white rabbit, and following it, a little girl. Soon enough, others are seeing strange apparitions: Sulu finds a pistol lying on the ground; Kirk sees Finnegan, the upperclassman who tormented him at the Academy; the legendary Don Juan appears to Yeoman Tonia Barrows. These are not figments; they are real objects. And then Kirk meets Ruth, an old flame, exactly as she was fifteen years ago. Spock calls from the ship. He has detected an energy field on the surface of the planet -- one that is draining the Enterprise's power. The patterns are consistent with industrial activity, perhaps subterranean. Communications are fuzzy and intermittent, and more dangerous things begin appearing: a tiger, a samurai warrior, and an ancient fighter plane. Spock manages to beam down after communications fail completely; and he's the last; the transporter is also inoperative. The planetary field soaks up energy at the source. Kirk instructs the landing party to rendezvous at the beam down point; there, McCoy encounters a black knight. Convinced it cannot harm him, he stands his ground -- and takes a lance through the chest, dying instantly. The artifacts are exactly like what they imitate: just as pleasant ... or just as deadly. When Finnegan reappears, Kirk goes after him personally. One knock-down-drag-out later, he's no closer to the answers he wants, although Finnegan's comment -- "I'm bein' exactly what'ya expect me t'be, Jimmie-boy" might be a clue. But beating Finnegan makes up for a lot of past miseries, a fact that Spock finds enlightening. He and Kirk realize the truth: all of the artifacts are representations of someone's wish fulfillment fantasy. Gathering the landing party, he instructs them to remain at attention, not to think of anything. An elderly man appears; this caretaker confirms the guess; his people constructed this planet as a playground. Anything one can think of can be manufactured -- and none of it is permanent. McCoy, taken below, has been completely healed, and as a bonus has a chorus girl from Rigel II on each arm. The caretaker offers the use of the Amusement Park planet to the crew while cautioning them to take care what they summon. He will not comment on his species or their home planet, saying enigmatically that he believes the Enterprise crew are not yet ready to understand his people. Kirk plans to beam down shore parties, and beam himself back to the ship ... and then Ruth reappears, changing his mind. Background Information * A great deal of new music was written for this episode, including the jig that plays whenever Finnegan appears. * Although Kirk appears to address the 'Angela' character as 'Teller' early in the episode, she is played by Barbara Baldavin, who played Angela Martine in Balance of Terror (her fiancé, Robert Tomlinson, died in the episode). The script name for her character was Mary Teller and was changed to Angela Martine on the set when somebody noticed Barbara Baldavin already appeared as a named character. * Spock conjures up the tiger when he mentions that Rodriguez had thought of it, yet Rodriguez' communicator wasn't working, so no one else knew he had seen the tiger. * That continuity blooper and others in this episode (such as Barrows' uniform ripped in different places) are likely due to the fact that this was literally being re-written as it was being shot. Cast members recalled Roddenberry sitting under a tree and frantically engaged in this. * It's easy to miss, but Angela is also "repaired" by the Caretaker's underground repair area. Rodriguez can be seen looking into the distance in amazement near the end of the show, and in the next scene, he's got his arm around her. * Most of this show was filmed at "Africa, USA." It can be seen in many television series of the sixties. The "wind chime" planet sound effect heard here is unique to this episode. The scenes with Ruth, the samurai and Spock's beam-down were all filmed at Vasquez Rocks near the Antelope Valley. * Bruce Mars might not have had much of a film career, but his exhuberant and maniacal performance here made Finnegan one of "Star Trek's" most memorable characters. * Two of the World War II planes can be seen in the stock footage, although Rodriguez says, "That's one of them!" * William Shatner originally hoped to wrestle the tiger, but was convinced it would not be a wise decision. * The preview of this episode shows Yeoman Barrows being accosted by Don Juan while wearing her princess costume. This scene was not used in the final cut. * Assuming that Kirk is 33 years old in this episode (he says his age is 34 in The Deadly Years, Ruth must have been quite a bit older than he when he met her. He says she "hasn't aged" and that it has been "fifteen years" since he's seen her. Memorable Quotes :''McCoy: A princess shouldn't be afraid -- not with a brave knight to protect her.'' :----- :''Spock: They act exactly like the real thing. Just as pleasant. Or just as deadly.'' :----- :''Kirk: The more complex the mind, the greater the need for the simplicity of play.'' Links and References Main Cast * William Shatner as Kirk * Leonard Nimoy as Spock * DeForest Kelley as McCoy * George Takei as Sulu * Nichelle Nichols as Uhura * Eddie Paskey as Leslie (Helm) Guest Stars * Emily Banks as Tonia Barrows * Oliver McGowan as Caretaker * Bruce Mars as Finnegan * Shirley Bonne as Ruth * Perry Lopez as Esteban Rodriguez * Barbara Baldavin as Angela Martine-Teller * John Carr as Guard * Marcia Brown as Alice * James Gruzal as Don Juan * Sebastian Tom as Samurai Warrior * William Blackburn as White rabbit * Paul Baxley as Black Knight / Kirk's stunt double * Vince Deadrick as Finnegan's stunt double * Irene Sale as Martine's stunt double References "Alice in Wonderland"; associational rating; Bengal Tiger; Lewis Carrol; multicellular casting; Police Special; shore leave. Category:TOS episodesde:Landurlaub